The Varieties of Scientific Experience; A personal view of the search for God, edited by Ann Druyan is a series of lectures given by Carl Sagan in 1985 when he was invited to present the centennial Gifford Lectures in Scotland. The book also marks the tenth anniversary of Sagan's death.

The first lecture concerns our place in the universe and tries to understand the differences between religion and superstition. How conceited is the idea, considering the scope of the universe, to believe that an omniscient, omnipresent God would concern itself with our tiny planet? Sagan includes a quote from Thomas Paine that goes on to wonder why that god would choose to die on this planet because a woman ate an apple.

The next few chapters chronicle the loss of status of our home through recorded history. According to Aristotle, we lived on "the" earth; new knowledge is that we live on "an" earth. This earth is much older than our predecessors imagined which has created a "series of assaults on human vainglory" and evolution is perhaps the largest broadside to traditional religious dogma. He again quotes Paine, "Is it more probable that nature should go out of her course or that a man should tell a lie?"

The chapter on Extraterrestrial Folklore gives several examples of modern religions with shaky foundations. One description is particularly relevant to many members of Humanists of Utah.

There is a religion that believes that in the 19th century a set of golden tablets was prepared by an angel and dug up by a divinely inspired human being. And the tablets were written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and had on them a hitherto unknown set of books like those in the Old Testament. And, unfortunately, the tablets are not available for any scrutiny these days, and in additions there is power evidence of conscious fraud at the time that the religion was founded, which led, last week, to tow people being killed in the state of Utah, having to do with some early letters from the founders of the religion that were inconsistent with the doctrine.

This chapter concludes comparing buying a used car and choosing a religion. For the former most of us are extremely skeptical and try to find a car that will actually work. "But on issues of the transcendent, of ethics and morals, of the origin of the world, of the nature of human beings, on those issues should we not insist upon at least equally skeptical scrutiny?"

The last section of the book deals with one of Sagan's greatest fears: that humanity will destroy itself before we are able to reach and colonize the stars. Nuclear war remains an ominous threat 20 years after his lectures. More countries are joining the Nuclear Club which does not bode well for our future considering the current political milieu we live in.

I highly recommend this book; I think everyone should read it. I believe that many who do will decide that is a necessary addition to their own libraries. But don't take my word for it; here is what Kurt Vonnegut thinks: "Find here a major fraction of this stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so."

--Wayne Wilson